Master's Degree Thesis

ISRN: BTH-AMT-EX--2011/D-09--SE

3D Simulation of a 5MW Wind

Turbine

Abtin Namiranian

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Blekinge Institute of Technology
Karlskrona, Sweden
2011
Supervisor:

Ansel Berghuvud, BTH

Dipl.-Ing. Mona Goudarzi, IPH, Hannover

3D Simulation of a 5MW Wind

Turbine

Abtin Namiranian
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Blekinge Institute of Technology
Karlskrona, Sweden
2011
Thesis submitted for completion of Master of Science in Mechanical
Engineering with emphasis on Structural Mechanics at the Department of
Mechanical Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona,
Sweden.

Abstract:
In the present work, the influence of turbulence and gravity forces on the
tower and the rotor of a 5MW onshore wind turbine has been investigated.
A full geometry of the turbine has been designed and simulated in a virtual
wind farm and then the fluid loads are imported into the structural part by
fluid structure interaction (FSI) method. The final results are shown that the
gravity force is significantly higher than turbulence loads and should be
considered in designing of the large wind turbines.
Keywords:
Wind turbine, Turbulence and gravity loads, Computational Fluid
Dynamics, Finite Element Method, Fluid structure interaction, ANSYS

Acknowledgements
This thesis is the final project for the Master of Science in Mechanical
Engineering with specialization in structural mechanics at the Department
of Mechanical Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona,
Sweden.
This work has been performed at Institut fr Integrierte Produktion
Hannover gGmbH (IPH) under supervision of Dipl.-Ing. Mona Goudarzi.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Dipl.-Ing. Mona
Goudarzi for her encouragement, support and guidance through all my
work. I am also grateful to Dr. Ansel Berghuvud at the department of
Mechanical Engineering at Blekinge Institute of Technology for his support
and suggestions.
Finally, special thanks to my parents who have always supported and
inspired me throughout my academic life.

Hannover, August 2011

Abtin Namiranian

Contents
1. NOTATION

2. INTRODUCTION

2.1 BACKGROUND
2.2 AIM AND SCOPE

7
8

3. WIND TURBINE CONCEPTS

3.1 MODERN WIND TURBINE

3.2 WIND FARMS

9
11

4. WIND TURBINE COMPONENTS

4.1 ROTOR
4.1.1 Rotor Blades
4.1.1.1 Aerodynamics of Rotor Blades
4.1.1.2 Airfoils
4.1.2 Wind Power
4.1.3 Rotor Power and Torque
4.1.4 Rotor Design
4.1.5 Rotor Blades Material
4.1.6 Rotor Hub
4.3 NACELLE
4.4 TOWER
5. WIND TURBINE LOADS
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6

13
14
14
14
14
18
19
20
24
25
25
27
29

AERODYNAMIC LOADS
GRAVITY LOADS
CENTRIFUGAL LOADS
GYROSCOPIC LOADS
WIND TURBULENCE
WIND SHEAR

30
30
31
31
32
32

6. THEORY

35

6.1 FINITE ELEMENT METHOD (FEM)

6.2 COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS (CFD)
6.2.1 Governing equation
6.2.1.1 Mass conservation
6.2.1.2 Newton's second law

35
36
36
36
37

6.2.1.3 Energy equation

6.2.1.4 Navier-Stokes equations
6.2.2 Finite Volume Method
6.2.3 Turbulence modeling
6.2.3.1 The
model
6.2.3.2 The
model
6.2.3.3 The Shear-Stress Transport (SST) model
6.3 FLUID STRUCTURE INTERACTION
7. SIMULATION

37
38
39
41
43
43
44
45
46
46
48
48
49
52
52
54

7.1 GEOMETRY
7.2 CFX
7.2.1 Mesh
7.2.2 Model set up
7.3 STRUCTURAL
7.3.1 Mesh
7.3.2 Model set up
8. RESULTS

56

9. CONCLUSION

64

10. FUTURE WORKS

65

11. REFERENCES

66

1.

Notation
Area
Drag force coefficient
Lift force coefficient
Power coefficient
Design power coefficient
Dimensionless constant
Energy
Force
Acceleration of gravity
Height
Specific total enthalpy
Internal energy
Thermal conductivity
Turbulent kinetic energy
Mass
Rotational speed
Pressure
Power
Design power
Turbulence production
Output power
Radius
Drag force
Lift force
5

Energy source
Kinetic energy source
Enthalpy energy source
Body forces
Temperature
Torque
Velocity vector in Cartesian coordinates
Velocity
Wind shear coefficient
Turbulent dissipation rate
Specific dissipation rate
Angular rotor speed
Air density

Angular velocity
Generator efficiency
Mean wind velocity
Standard deviation ration
Viscous stress
Viscous stress components
Dynamic viscosity
Turbulent viscosity
Tip speed ratio
Viscosity
Fluid property

Diffusion coefficient

2.

Introduction

2.1 Background
The use of renewable energy sources has increased significantly in the past
decade due to the robust request for the sustainable protection of our
environment. Among these renewable energies, the use of wind power has
become the fastest growing energy technology in the world [17]. This
remarkable energy can be captured and used to generate electricity by
implementing wind turbines which have changed considerably since their
beginnings. Today the commercial size of wind turbines covers from 0.3
MW up to 7.5 MW, as shown in figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1. Growth in size of commercial wind turbine designs

The size of wind turbines is performing as the main rule for capturing
energy from the wind. In other words, we can produce more utilizable
energy with larger wind turbines due to higher wind speed, lower airflow
frictional resistance and bigger volume of air which flows through the rotor.
Therefore, most of the wind turbine producers in the wind turbine
technology are focused on constructing the larger wind turbines. On the
other hand, the cost of labor, maintenance and construction of the wind
turbines increase with the size of each part, specially tower and rotor.
Hence, wind turbine manufacturers are also concentrating on bringing
down the price of the turbines themselves.
In order to catch more power from the wind and supply more electrical
energy, we need to build a bigger rotor which is the most significant part of
the wind turbines. However, this part depends on the size and shape of
tower which provides the safe and reliable performance of turbines under a
variety of wind conditions. Therefore, the understanding of forces which
appear in the tower and the suitable selection of the material used are
considered as other main factors in designing the large wind turbines.

2.2 Aim and scope

This work concentrates primarily on the simulation of one of the biggest
wind turbines in the world. The purpose of this simulation is calculating the
effect of turbulence loads from the wind on the rotor, nacelle and the tower,
and then computing the gravity force in each part in order to find the
stresses and deflections in the tower and the rotor of the turbine.

3.

Wind Turbine Concepts

One of the significant technologies of the 20th century is the wind turbine
technology which offers cost-effective solutions for generating the
electrical energy due to eliminate the dependency of the world on the fuelbased sources such as oil and gas. Therefore, the wind turbine technology is
produced electrical energy without greenhouse effects or deadly pollution
gasses [2]. The wind turbine technology offers electrical energy with lower
installation and maintenance costs unlike the other energy sources.
In this project, a wind turbine is a machine which converts the wind power
into electricity power and does not to be confused with another type of
machine, Windmill which converts the winds power into mechanical
power.

3.1 Modern Wind Turbine

Modern wind turbines can be classified into two configurations depending
on the rotation axis of the rotor blades: horizontal-axis wind turbines
(HAWTs) and vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs), as shown in figure
3.1.

Figure 3.1. Types of modern wind turbine

In recent years, most of the commercial wind turbines are the horizontal
axis wind turbines (HAWT) which have their axis of rotation horizontal to
the ground and almost parallel to the wind flow. These types of turbines
have some noticeable advantages such as low cut-in wind speed and easy
furling. In general, the power output of HWAT is higher than vertical-axis

wind turbines due to the better power coefficient in HWAT. However, the
generator and gearbox of these turbines are to be located over the tower
which makes its design more complex and expensive.
Horizontal axis wind turbines can be classified as single bladed, two
bladed, three bladed and multi bladed, as it is shown in figure 3.2. The
HAWT single bladed are not widely used now, even though they appear to
save the cost of other blades owing to savings materials. In order to balance
the weight of the single blades, they require a counterbalance on the
opposite side of the hub. In addition, they need higher wind speed to
produce the same power output which obtains by the three bladed HAWT.
The two bladed wind turbines almost have the same disadvantage of the
single bladed and they can capture slightly less energy than three bladed.
The multi bladed turbines are mostly used as water pumping windmills
and they do not use for producing the electricity [7]. Therefore, most of the
present commercial wind turbines have three blades.

Figure 3.2. Classification of wind turbines

The horizontal axis wind turbines base on the orientation of the rotor can
also be classified into upwind and downwind. When the wind flow hits the
rotor before the tower and makes it to rotate then it is called upwind wind
turbine. The advantage of upwind design is that the blades can be worked in
undistributed air flow but the wind forces turn the rotor in direction of wind
[6]. Thus, they need an extra active mechanism, yaw mechanism, to keep
the rotor (blades) against downwind. On the other side, in downwind wind
turbines, the wind hits the tower first and then hits the rotor. Hence, the
wind itself can keep the rotor in downwind situation without any
supplementary mechanism.
10

In all the time, the wind direction is not steady and changes fast, hence the
upwind wind turbine yaws faster than downwind due to having the active
yaw mechanism. Figure 3.3 displays the upwind and downwind wind
turbines.

Figure 3.3. Upwind and downwind turbines

3.2 Wind Farms

Numerous wind farm projects are being constructed around the world with
both offshore and onshore developments in wind turbine technology.
The onshore wind turbines (figure 3.4) are installed frequently in upland in
order to achieve the higher wind speeds. However, the onshore wind
turbines are not growing as fast as offshore wind turbines due to some
restrictions such as turbine noises and limited availability of lands.

11

Figure 3.4. Onshore wind turbines

The offshore (figure 3.5) wind turbines give us more power output and
operate more hours in each year compared with the same turbines installed
in onshore due to having higher and more constant wind speeds in open
areas [6]. Another advantage of using the offshore wind turbines is having
lower wind turbulence with higher average wind speeds and receiving less
acoustic noises from the turbine [14]. On the other hand, onshore wind
systems have some other advantages which make them also to be
significant such as cheaper substructure, cheaper installation and access
during the construction period, cheaper integration with the electrical-grid
network and cheaper and easier access for operation and maintenance [29].

Figure 3.5. Offshore wind turbines

12

4.

Wind Turbine Components

Today, most of the commercial wind turbines are horizontal axis wind
turbine with typically three blades [18]. The main subsystems of a
horizontal axis wind turbine, as shown in figure 4.1, can be separated into
the rotor which consists of the blades and the hub; The nacelle which
includes gearbox, drive train, control parts and yaw system; The tower and
the foundation which depends on type of turbine, onshore or offshore and
finally the balance of the electrical system which is including cables,
switchgear, transformers, and possibly electronic power converters [1].

Figure 4.1. Major components of a horizontal axis wind turbine

13

4.1 ROTOR
The most important and outstanding part of a wind turbine is the rotor
which is composed of the hub and the blades. The rotor receives kinetic
energy from the wind flow and transforms it into mechanical shaft power.

4.1.1 Rotor Blades

4.1.1.1 Aerodynamics of Rotor Blades
Aerodynamic deals with the influence of gas forces on the bodies when air
or other gases moving through them. During the development of wind
turbine, several research and enquires have been done in aerodynamic filed
in order to find the successful model.
4.1.1.2 Airfoils
The cross-section of a wind turbine blade is an airfoil which is used to
generate mechanical forces due to motion of fluid around the airfoil. The
width and length of the blade depend on the desired aerodynamic
performance and the maximum desired rotor power.
Airfoils parameters
The major characteristics of an airfoil are shown in figure 4.2. Different
types of airfoils are used along the blades in order to catch the energy from
the wind. There are many types of airfoils available in designing blades and
they are classified by the numbers which are specified from the NACA
(National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics). Figure 4.3 illustrates the
three classes of the airfoils.

14

Figure 4.2. Main parameters of an airfoil

For instance, an airfoil which is specified with four digits, the first number
indicates the maximum camber of the airfoil at the chord line (in per cent of
chord), the second number demonstrates the location of the point of
maximum camber from the leading edge (in tenth of the chord) and the
third and fourth numbers show the maximum thickness (in per cent of the
chord) [4].

Figure 4.3. Sample airfoils

Forces on an airfoil
When an airfoil is located in a wind flow, air passes through both upper and
lower surfaces of the blade which has the typical curved shape. This shape
makes the air to travel more distance per unit time at the upper side than the

15

lower side. In other words, the air particles move faster at the upper side of
the airfoil.
According to the Bernoullis theorem, the variety of the speed in upper and
lower side of the blade is made the different pressure on the upper and
lower surfaces of the airfoil. Therefore, these pressure differences in the
airfoil will cause a force R (figure 4.4.) which is divided into two main
components in x and y directions as follows:
Lift force is specified as a force which is vertical to the direction of
oncoming airflow. The lift force is outcome of the unequal pressure on the
upper and lower airfoil surfaces. The lift force is given by
coefficient

(4.1)

Drag force is defined as a force which is parallel to the direction of

oncoming airflow. The drag force is due both to viscous friction forces at
the surface of the airfoil and to unequal pressure on the airfoil surfaces. The
Drag force ( ) equals to
coefficient

Figure 4.4. Airfoil lift and drag

16

(4.2)

where is the density of air, V is the velocity of undisturbed air flow, A is

the projected airfoil area (
) and
,
are the lift and drag
coefficients which can be found under wind tunnel experiments. In the
wind tunnel, the lift forces and the drag forces of the fixed airfoil are
measured by some transducers which are located in the vertical and
horizontal planes [4].
Lift and drag forces on an airfoil are influenced by the angle of attack, ,
which is the angle between the undisturbed wind direction and the chord of
the airfoil [4]. For instance, the effect of angle of attack on the lift
coefficient of an airfoil demonstrates in figure 4.5. As it is shown, the lift
force increases with and reaches to the maximum value at a certain angle
of attack (12 in this example). After this specific point, the lift coefficient
quickly decreases with further increase in due to entering the airflow in
turbulent region which separates the boundary layers from the airfoil.
Therefore, the drag force rapidly goes up and lift force goes down at this
region.

Figure 4.5. Effect of angle of attack on airfoil lift

17

4.1.2 Wind Power

The kinetic energy of the wind can be written as:
(4.3)
where m is mass (kg) and V is speed ( ).
The volume of air which flows through the rotor in HWAT turbines is
cylindrical (figure 4.6.) with the amount of mass which passes through the
rotor of turbine per second. Therefore, the energy per second can be defined
as:
4.4

4.5
where A is the cross-section area of the cylinder and equals to

Figure 4.6. Volume of air in front of the rotor

It should be mentioned that power is defined as the rate of wind energy

passes through an area per unit time which means:
18

4.6

4.1.3 Rotor Power and Torque

In reality, a wind turbine cannot derive all the wind power from wind
stream when it passes through the rotor of the wind turbine, which means
that some parts of kinetic energy of the wind is transferred to the rotor and
the rest of the energy leaves the rotor. Therefore, the amount of wind
energy which is converted to the mechanical power by the rotor is defined
as the efficiency that is usually termed as the power coefficient, . The
power coefficient of the rotor can be explained as the ratio of power output
from the rotor to the accessible power of the wind in theory [4] which is
defined as:
2

4.7

where
is the power output of the wind turbine. The power coefficient of
a turbine relies on many factors such as rotor blades profile, blade
arrangement, and blade setting, etc.
In order to find the torque of the rotor, we need to define the thrust force by
the rotor which can be expressed as:
1
2

4.8

Hence, the torque of the rotor will be:

1
2
where R is the radius of the rotor.

19

4.9

The torque of the rotor, in reality, is less than this value and is expressed in
terms of the torque coefficient which is defined as the ratio between the
actual torque and the theoretical torque; hence this coefficient is explained
by:
2

where

4.10

is the actual torque developed by the rotor.

In order to find the efficiency of interaction between the rotor and the wind
stream, another significant factor should be described as the ratio between
the velocity of the rotor tip and the wind velocity, which is called tip speed
ratio:

4.11

where is the angular velocity and N is the rotational speed of the rotor.
In addition, the torque coefficient and the power coefficient can be changed
by the tip ratio as it is expressed:

4.12

4.1.4 Rotor Design

Some parameters based on the fundamental aerodynamic theories are
needed in order to receive more energy from the wind and produce more
power from the rotor. These parameters can be expressed as follows [4]:
1. Radius of the rotor ( )
2. Tip speed ratio of the rotor at the design point (

20

3. Number of blades ( )
4. Design lift coefficient of the airfoil (
5. Angle of attack of the airfoil lift ( )

The first parameter, radius of the rotor, depends on the speed of wind and
the power expected from the turbine which can be expressed at the design
point as:
1
2
As we know

4.13

, therefore the radius of the rotor can be defined as:

4.14

where
is the design power coefficient of the rotor,
is the drive train
is the generator efficiency and
is the design wind
efficiency,
velocity [4].
Design tip speed ratio depends on the function of the turbine which is
applied. For instance, wind pump rotors need low tip speed ratio due to the
high starting torque. However, electricity producing wind turbines require
high tip speed ratio due to the fast running rotor.
Number of blades in a rotor is directly related to the tip speed ratio which
means that we need lower blades for the higher tip speed ratio and vice
versa.
Figure 4.7 shows the number of blades based on the design tip speed ratio
in order to select the appropriate numbers of the blades.

21

Figure 4.7. Number of blades and design tip speed ratio

As it is mentioned before, the lift and drag coefficients are the properties of
an airfoil which can be found under wind tunnel experiments. These
coefficients may be available for some standard airfoil sections at different
angles of attack and can be used in rotor design. In order to get more
performance from the rotor, we need to maximize the lift force and
minimize the drag force by reducing the angle of attack that can be obtained
by plotting a tangent to the curve of - as it is shown in figure 4.8.

22

Figure 4.8.

relationship of an airfoil

If such data are not simply available for the selected airfoil, the necessary
information should be achieved through wind tunnel experiments, figure
4.9.

Figure 4.9. A low speed wind tunnel

23

4.1.5 Rotor Blades Material

The properties of the rotor blades materials depend strongly on the blade
dimensions, operating wind circumstances, and stresses which arise from
bending moments on the hub structure. In order to construct the high size
wind turbines, rotor blades are made from glass-reinforced plastic (GRP),
carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP), steel, and aluminum [3]. On the
other side, the production efficiency and cost of construction for small wind
turbines, which can be categorized by the rotor diameter (smaller than 5 m),
are more important than weight, stiffness, and other design requirements.
Foam, Gel coat, glass fibers, and epoxies are the most used materials in the
composite in order to build long blades with high stiffness and lightweight
characteristics. For instance, Fiberglass offers high stiffness, flexural
strength, and shear resistance under extreme thermal and mechanical
environments. Some designers have considered high-performance resins
such as epoxy in production of rotor blades. Therefore, it is important to
evaluate the critical performance characteristics of resins which are
viscosity, exothermic properties, and other factors, in order to be sure that
the blade can be tolerated to the stresses and other causes.

24

4.1..6 Rotor Hub

H
Thee next major coomponent of thhe rotor which
h fixes the bladdes to the rotorr is
calleed Hub, as it is shown in figure
f
4.10. Th
his part transffers loads on the
bladdes to the drivve train in naceelle by low sp
peed shaft. Thee type of the hub
h
depeends on momeents and forcess which are traansmitted to thhe rotor.

Figurre 4.10 Rotor Hub

4.33 Nacellee
Thee nacelle is loccated on the toop of a wind turbine tower and protects the
elecctrical and mecchanical compponents of the wind turbine such as gearbox,
geneerator, brakess and main shhaft against th
he weather coonditions [7], as
show
wn in figure 4.11. Nacelle iss normally maade from a lighhtweight materrial
suchh as fiberglass.

25

Figuree 4.11. Nacellee Components

As you can see from the fiigure, the low-speed shaft ((main shaft) trransfers
the rotationall energy from the rotor hub
b to the gearbox or directlyy to the
generator in order
o
to produuce the electrical energy. Fuurthermore, thhe main
shaft transmiits the aerodyynamic loads, gravitational loads and dyynamic
loads on the rotor
r
to the naacelle due to sttability and saafety of the rottor in a
wind turbine.
The main purrpose of the gearbox is to in
ncrease the low speed of thhe main
shaft to the speed that is reequired for th
he generator [11]. Most of thhe large
wind turbiness rotate in low
w speed (15-3
30rpm) and thherefore the gearbox
g
needs to preepare the dem
manded speed
d in several steps. In adddition,
gearboxes onn large turbinnes also need
d a cooling system in orrder to
efficiently lubbricate and coooling the gearss.

26

The active part of the protection system is the brake system which is
consisted of two independent systems: an aerodynamic brake system and a
mechanical brake system. An aerodynamic brake system controls the blade
tips which can be adjusted or the entire rotor blade can be pitched. The
mechanical brakes are usually used as a backup system for the aerodynamic
braking system in the wind turbine [4]. They consist of brake calipers,
brake discs and brake pads.
The wind turbine generator transforms the mechanical energy of the shaft
into electric power. While the blades transfer the kinetic energy of the wind
into rotational energy in the transmission system, the generator provides the
next step in the supply of energy from the wind turbine to the electrical
grid.
Yaw mechanism lines up the plane of rotation to be vertical to the direction
of wind. The yaw mechanism is classified into passive yaw and active yaw.
The passive yaw is used for small wind turbines and downwind turbines.
The active yaw, the second type, is used in most of the upwind wind
turbines. This type of yaw mechanism uses an electromechanical drive and
a control system in order to control and monitor the yaw in a wind turbine.

4.4 Tower
The tower of a wind turbine supports the nacelle and the rotor and provides
the safe and reliable operation of turbines under a variety of wind
conditions [6].
In order to capture more energy from the wind and generate more power,
the possible solution is using higher tower. Manufactures prefer to produce
taller towers due to utmost safety, optimum performance and better design
flexibility. On the other hand, transportation, assembly and servicing of the
components become more difficult and costly when the height of the tower
increases [4].
The second design parameter of a tower is its stiffness. Determining the
first natural bending frequency in the right way is an important task in the
design [5]. This establishment helps designer to choose the suitable
materials for the tower in order to achieve the required stiffness at the
27

lowest possibble constructiion cost. Steeel and concrrete are the typical
materials which are used in the tower of a large wind tuurbine.
Wind turbine towers are faabricated in diffferent shapess and materialss. They
are categorized into latticee tower, tubu
ular steel tower and guyedd tower
(figure 4.12.) [4]. The Latttice towers arre made with steel bars. Thhey are
needed relativvely lighter fouundation due to the wide sppread legs whiich will
contribute to the cost reduuction; therefo
ore they consuume only halff of the
material whicch is required for a similar tubular
t
tower. Nowadays, thhe most
common toweer type currenttly in used is tubular
t
towers which are fabbricated
by joining tubbular sections such as 10 or 20 meter. Thee cross-sectionn of this
type towers is
i circular thaat can offer optimum
o
bendding resistancee in all
directions. Guuyed towers are
a only used for relatively small wind tuurbines
and they are usually
u
conneccted to their su
upporting founndation by meaans of a
bolted flange connection orr a weld.

Figure 4..12. Different types of toweers

28

5.

Wind Turbinee Loads

Thee main reason of most loadss in wind turbiine is wind sppeed which haas a
randdom property and it can be determineed by many factors such as
geoggraphic and weather condditions. Thereefore, the winnd load has an
important role in design
d
processs of a wind turrbine.
Aerodynamic, graavitational andd inertial loadss are the main load sources in a
wind turbine and some other looads are arising
g from operatiional actions and
a
diffe
ferent operationnal states of thhe wind turbin
ne [2]. Figuree 5.1 displays the
all effective
e
loadss in a wind turbbine.

Figure 5.1. Loads in a wiind turbine

29

5.1 Aerodynamic loads

The aerodynamic loads are caused by airflow when it is passed from the
turbine blades and the tower, thus, the aerodynamic loads can be separated
into aerodynamic loads along the blades, described in section 4.1.1.2 (Lift
force and Drag force), and aerodynamic drag force on tower which is
defined as:
0.5

5.1

is aerodynamic drag coefficient and A is projected area vertical

where
to the flow. Furthermore, in high wind speed situations, when a wind
turbine is stationary, the drag forces are the primary consideration whereas
the lift forces are more concerned when the turbine is operating [1].

5.2 Gravity Loads

The gravity loads is an important source of loads that can be imposed large
fatigue stresses on the rotor and the tower. When the dimension of wind
turbine grows, the structures weight becomes the main problem with
respect to strength. The gravity forces are simply given as:
5.2

Where

is the mass of the i-th blade element and

9.82

The gravity on the tower equals to:

5.3

30

5.3

Centrifugal Loads

The influence of inertial forces on blades mass which causes moments to

pitch the blades is called centrifugal loads. Due to low rotation speed of the
rotors in large wind turbines, centrifugal forces are not very considerable
[4]. On some rotors, however, blades are flapped into the out-of-rotatingplane direction which causes the cone angle between the blades and the
rotational speeds. This angle in some conditions can be reduced the bladeroot bending loads and in contrast, leads to an increase in the mean flap
wise bending. The centrifugal loads on the rotor equal to:
5.4

in which
is the mass of the i-th blade element, is the radial position of
the i-th blade element in a discretisation of the blade into n elements and
is the angular rotor speed.

5.4 Gyroscopic Loads

The gyroscopic loads are caused by the rotation of the rotor when it is
yawed into the wind. A fast yawing rate is made a large gyroscopic
moments which reveal as pitching moments on the rotor axis [4]. However,
the yawing rates in horizontal wind turbines are normally low due to using
the active yaw mechanism, whereas the gyroscopic forces in the wind
turbines with passive yawing are the significant problem.
The rotor is needed to also be yawed very quickly when wind directions are
changed rapidly during low wind speeds. Therefore, rotor blades, under this
condition, are faced to extraordinary bending loads [6]. This is another
reason that passive yaw mechanism are applied in downwind rotor which
are no longer being built.

31

5.5 Wind Turbulence

The turbulence of the wind is the fluctuation of the wind speed in short time
scale which acts as a dynamic load in wind turbines. Thus, wind turbine
components can be influenced by fatigue loads, particularly on the rotor
blades, due to the large turbulence when the speed of wind is significantly
high. It is helpful to think of the wind as comprise of a mean wind speed
which fluctuates on a time-scale of one or several hours. Wind speed
naturally fluctuates in all three directions, longitudinal, vertical and lateral
directions [6]. The turbulence model, however, is assumed only in one
direction, longitudinal, due to the difficult numerical handling of two
dimensional turbulence models and the influence of longitudinal turbulence
over the rotor-swept area.
The main parameter in turbulence is intensity which measures rapid
changes in wind speed over short intervals:

5.5

where is mean wind velocity

is the standard deviation ration at the
same point and averaged over same period of time.
In general, the highest turbulence intensities occur at the lowest wind
speeds [6], but the lower limiting value at a given location will depend on
the specific land features and surface conditions at the location.

5.6 Wind Shear

Wind shear is meteorological phenomenon which describes the changes in
wind speed as a function of height [6]. The velocity of wind around the
ground surface is theoretically considered to be zero due to the frictional
resistance of the airflow around the ground. Thus, the rate of wind velocity
increases with the height which is an important factor in designing of wind
energy plant. Figure 5.2 displays the wind speed changes respect to height.

32

Figure 5.2. Wind flow in boundary layer

The power law is the most common method to describe the average wind
speed as a function of height above the ground which is defined as [12]:

5.6

in which
are wind speeds at heights
, and is the wind
shear coefficient which depends on some factors, such as height, time and
locations. This coefficient is normally considered between 0.15-0.3., as
shown in figure 5.3.

33

Figure 5.3. wind speed respect to height for different values of shear, the
average wind speed is given 8 m/s at 50 m

34

6.

Theorry

6.11 Finite Element

E
M
Method
(FE
EM)
Thee FEM is one of
o the most poowerful numerrical methods for resolving the
parttial differentiaal equations which
w
are appeeared in engineeering problem
ms.
Thiss method appliies a variationnal problem wh
hich involves aan integral of the
diffe
ferential equatiion over the model
m
domain. This domain is divided into a
finitte number off sub domainns called elements and thhe elements are
connnected to eachh other at the points
p
called nodes.
n
The subb domains can be
solvved by defininng approximatte interpolation or shape fuunctions for eaach
elem
ment. These fuunctions shoulld be a compllete set of pollynomials, which
mayybe linear, quaadratic or highher order. Wheen the polynom
mial functionss of
all elements
e
are known then they
t
are placeed together inn order to findd a
soluution for the enntire region [21].

Figure 6.1.
6 Typical finnite element meesh (two dimennsional)

Thee major steps inn FEM are [133]:

1. Find the strong
s
form off the governin
ng differentiall equation of the
system.
2 Convert thhe strong form
2.
m of the equatio
on to the weakk form.

35

3. Choose suitable interpolation (shape) functions.

4. Choose the weight functions and set up the algebraic equations for
each element.
5. Obtain the global matrix system of the equations through the
assembly of all elements.
6. Impose boundary conditions.
7. Solve the system of algebraic equations.
8. Postprocess the results.

6.2 Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

CFD is a numerical method which can be used to predict fluid flow, heat
transfer and chemical reactions in complex systems. CFD has been applied
most widely in industrial and non-industrial application areas due to less
times and costs requirement in designing models [10]. In order to analyze a
fluid problem with CFD, we need to obtain the mathematical equations
which describe the behavior of the fluid flow.

6.2.1 Governing equation

All fluid dynamics are based on three fundamental physical principles:
Mass conservation, Newtons second law (Momentum) and energy
conservation.

6.2.1.1 Mass conservation

The conservation of mass means that the rate of mass flow into a fluid
element (volume) equals to the rate of increase of mass in the fluid element
(volume) [10], therefore for a compressible fluid:

div

where is density of the fluid and

coordinates.

36

6.1

is the velocity vector in Cartesian

And the density of an incompressible fluid, such as liquid, is constant

(
0 , so:
div

where ,

6.2

are the velocity components of .

6.2.1.2 Newton's second law

Newton's second law declares that the rate of change of momentum equals
to forces summation on the fluid particles. The forces can be divided to
surface forces as separate terms and body forces as source term [10]. Then,
the momentum equations in three directions can be obtained by considering
the stresses in terms of the pressures on a control volume. Therefore, the
momentum equation in x, y and z components equals to:

div

6.3a

div

6.3b

div

6.3c

where
,
are body forces (source term), for example the
value of body forces due to the gravity will be [10]:
0,
0
. The stress components are obtained by Navier-Stokes
equations.

6.2.1.3 Energy equation

The energy equation is obtained by the first law of thermodynamics which
describes the rate of change of energy of a fluid particle is equal to the rate

37

of heat addition to the fluid particle plus the rate of work done on the
particle [10]. Hence, the energy equation equals to:

div

div

div

6.4

where
is the internal energy,
is the temperature,
is the thermal
conductivity, p is the pressure, u, v and w are the velocity components of u
and is a new source term
which
is a source of energy
and
is a Mechanical (Kinetic) energy source.
Therefore, the equation of energy for compressible fluids will be:

div

div

6.5

where

is the specific total enthalpy and

is an enthalpy energy source.

6.2.1.4 Navier-Stokes equations

There still some unknown variables, the viscous stress components
, are
remained in previous equations. These values can be obtained by presenting
the suitable model which is represented as functions of the local rate of
deformation for most of the fluid flows. The local rate of deformation is
made of the linear deformation rate and the volumetric deformation rate in

38

three-dimensional flows [10]. The Newton's law of viscosity for

compressible flows composed of two constant viscosities, dynamic
viscosity, , which is related to linear deformations and the second
viscosity, , which is related to the volumetric deformation. Therefore, the
six viscous stress components are constant and three of them are variable.
These components are explained as:

,
6.6

By substituting the equations 6.6 to equations 6.3a, b, c we will reach to the

Navier-Stokes equations:

div

6.7a

div

6.7b

div

6.7c

6.2.2 Finite Volume Method

Finite Volume Method (FVM) or Finite Control Volume Method is the
most popular discretization method in CFD. This method divides the main
domain into control volumes and then integrates the equations over each
control volume. The FVM method in some features is similar to finite
different method while the descritization form is connected to the finite
element method. The computational effort of this method is greater than
finite difference method and less than the finite element method for a

39

similar accuraacy [21]. In addition,

a
the FVM
F
is basedd on the cell average
a
value which has some addvantages, first the conserrvation of quantities
(mass, momeentum, energyy) remains co
onserved at tthe local scalles and
secondly, the complex geom
metries can be meshed.

T
finite volume
v
grid tw
wo dimensionaal (rectangularr grid)
Figure 6.2. Typical

The general conservation eqquation is equaal to:

div

where

6.8

is a fluid
f
property and is the diiffusion coeffiicient.

By integration of equationn 6.8 over a control

c
volum
me [10], the eqquation
becomes

div

CV

6.9

40

By applying Gauss' divergence theorem, equation (6.9) can be written as

follow [10]:
.

6.10
The change rating term of (6.9) for the steady state problems is equal to
zero, therefore,

6.11

And for the transient problems, the equation will be [10]:

6.12

6.2.3 Turbulence modeling

Turbulent flow is a type of fluid (gas or liquid) flow when the velocity and
other properties of the fluid fluctuate in all directions. Using the Navier
Stokes equations for a turbulent flow is extremely difficult due to the time41

dependent, nonlinear and three-dimensional equations. Hence, the Reynolds

Averaged Navier-Stokes Equation (RANS) is the most widely used for
calculating industrial flows [10]. The RANS can be obtained from Navier
Stokes equations by considering the mean properties for the flow such as
mean velocities, mean pressures and mean stresses etc., therefore the
equations 6.7a, b, c become [10]

div

6.13a

div

6.13b

div

6.13c

The additional parts of equation on the mean velocity components U, V and

W are turbulent stresses which called Reynolds stresses.
where:

u, v, w are the velocity components of u ; U,V, W are the mean velocity

components of U; , , are the fluctuating velocity components of
and are mean and fluctuating component of pressure.

42

The Reynolds stresses could be obtained from mean rates of deformation

which is equal to [10]:
6.14

where

is the turbulent viscosity which is determined by different models.

6.2.3.1 The

model

The considered model for the free stream fluid is the

model which
has one equation for the turbulent kinetic energy, k, and one equation for
the turbulent dissipation rate, . Hence, the turbulence viscosity of this
model can be obtained by the below equation:
6.15

is a dimensionless constant, k and

where
following equations:

are determined by the

div

6.16

div

6.17

is the turbulence production and

equal to [10]:
1;

6.2.3.2 The

1.3 ;

,
1.44 ;

are constants and

1.92

model

This model is suitable for calculating the turbulence near the wall. The
model is based on model transport equations for the turbulence
43

kinetic energy, k, and the specific dissipation rate,

derived from the equations below:

. These values are

div

6.18

div

6.19

1;

are constants and equal to:

2;

5
;
9

0.075 ;

0.09

Therefore, the turbulence viscosity of this model will be:

6.20

The advantage of this method is using the low-Reynolds number near the
wall and easier modeling which gives us more accurate and more robust
result but the disadvantage of this method is high sensitivity to the freestream conditions [25].

6.2.3.3 The Shear-Stress Transport (SST) model

The SST model is based on the
model and has the same automatic
wall treatment. This model is mixing the best properties of
model
and
model which means around the near-wall region is using the
model and in free-stream flow is using the
model in order to
get better results [25].

44

6.3 Fluid structure interaction

When the system is a coupled of fluid and solid structure then it is called
fluid structure interaction (FSI) which means that the fluid effects on
deformation of solid geometry and the deformed geometry is changing the
fluid variables, too. The FSI is an example of a multiphysics problem which
the fluid and solid have interacted with each other. Two types of FSI have
supported by mechanical application in ANSYS, one way FSI and two
ways FSI. The result from CFD analysis is applied as a load to the
mechanical analysis and if the result has passed back to CFD then it is
called tow way FSI otherwise is called one way FSI [25].
The one way FSI allows computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite
element analysis (FEA) solvers to be run independently whereas in two
ways FSI, both solvers have to be run at the same time because the results
are transferred between CFD and FEA for each step until overall
equilibrium is reached among the Mechanical application solution and
ANSYS CFX solution. In this research, we are considered the one-way FSI
for our simulation.

45

7.

Simulation

7.1 Geometry
The structural model contains the full geometry of wind turbine which is
tower, nacelle and rotor. The 3D model has been created in
ANSYS/DesignModeler based upon published information of 5MW wind
turbine from Repower [27], as shown in table below:
Table 7.1. 5MW wind turbine specifications
Rotor

Nacelle

Tower

Diameter

126 m

Length

19 m

Hub height

120 m

Blade length

61.5 m

Width

6.8 m

material

Steel

Max. blade
width

4.6 m

Height

6m

weight

540 tone

Blade material

GFRP with
Epoxy

Weight

316
tone

Up diameter

5.5 m

Weight of each
blade

18-19.5 tone

Down diameter

6m

Rotor weight

125 129.5
tone

Maximum
rotation speed

12.1 rev/min

Figure 7.1 illustrates the final 3D structural model which has been designed
and the real model from Repower. In the next step, the solid model has
been inserted in a proper wind farm which has been recommended by the
manufacturer, as shown in figure 7.2.

46

Figure 7.1. Numerical

N
and real models

1.5D(189m)
6D
D(756m)

4D(504 m)

Figure 7.2.
7 Wind farm
m model

47

7.2 CFX
7.2.1 Mesh
The aim of CFX-mesh is producing high quality meshes which can resolve
boundary layer phenomena and fulfill severe quality criteria [25]. CFXMesh makes meshes including tetrahedral, prisms, and pyramids in
standard 3D meshing model and also can be contained hexahedra in the 2D
meshing mode. In this project, tetrahedral mesh has been chosen with
advance size function in ANSYS due to the complexity of model. This
function can be effective for creating high quality meshes around the solid
walls. In addition, Mapped face meshing has been used for the faces of the
nacelle, rotor and the tower in order to provide more uniform meshes.
According to the ANSYS help, different types of analyses have different
meshing requirements which mean that we should create finer mesh with
slow transition in CFD problems whereas coarser mesh with higher order
elements and faster transition should be used in mechanical problems [25].
Figure 7.3 shows the final mesh that has been created in the CFX part. The
total number of mesh which has been used in the CFX part equals to 2.5
million.

(a)

48

(b)

(c)
Figure 7.3. CFX mesh details (a) whole domain, (b) half of the whole
domain, and (c) rotor, nacelle and tower

7.2.2 Model set up

The next step after creating the appropriate and suitable meshes for all the
parts in CFX is specifying domains, boundary conditions, type of analysis,
interfaces, etc. In order to solve the problem, it is necessary to create at
least two types of domains which are a stationary and a rotating. The
nacelle and the tower are considered inside the stationary domain and the
rotor is inserted in the rotating domain. Then, three interfaces have been
49

defined betw
ween the statioonary domain and the rotaating domain due to
changes in refference framess.
In order to rootate the rotor in ANSYS, we should uuse transient analysis
a
instead of steady state anallysis which means that the vvariables of fllow are
fore, total time and time step should be deffined in
changing withh time. Therefo
the analysis section. It shhould be noted
d that the sizze of time steep is a
significant paarameter in the transient sim
mulations andd must be considered
The initial vaalue for
small enoughh to resolve thhe problems appropriately.
a
each domain is another factor
f
in the transient anaalysis which will
w be
discussed in thhe next part.
Figure 7.4 represents the domains wh
hich have beeen supposed in the
simulation.

Stationary dom
main

Rotating dom
main

Figuure 7.4. Doma

ains in CFX

The next step is to define thhe boundary co

onditions for tthe whole dom
mains as
below:
Inlet
According to the wind sheaar principle, thee speed of winnd is not constant and
is changing with
w the height. Thus, the equ
uation 5.5 is ddefined and sett as the
input wind sppeed in the innlet boundary
y layer. The ttype of fluid is also
assumed to bee air at 25
.

50

Outtlet
Thee type of outleet has been coonsidered open
ning class whhere fluid can be
exited and entereed through thee boundary su
urfaces. The vvalue of relattive
presssure is also suupposed to be zero due to un
nbounded area around the wiind
turbbine.
Figuure 7.5 shows the assumed boundary
b
cond
ditions in the siimulation.

Outlet (openiing)
Interfacees

Inlet (Speciffied velocity)

G
Ground

Figure 7.5. Boundary

B
cond
ditions in CFX
X

Turrbulence model
Thee turbulence model
m
for the stationary dom
main and the rotating domain
havee been chosenn Shear Stress Transport
T
(SST) due to the aadvantage of this
t
moddel respect too the k- moodel which was
w described in the previoous
chappter.

51

Initial conditions
In order to solve the transient problems, we have to specify the initial
conditions for each domain since the data describes the state at the
simulation start time [25]. In stationary domain initialization, the type of
velocity has been considered in Cartesian coordinate with the zero values,
whereas Cylindrical coordinate has been chosen with the same values for
the rotating domain. The relative pressure between inlet and outlet
boundary layers is also assumed to be zero in both domains.
According to the specification of the wind turbine, the angular velocity of
the rotating domain should be set at 12.1
which is the maximum
rotation speed of the rotor. Therefore, the rotor speed has been fixed at the
constant value in the software.

7.3 Structural
7.3.1 Mesh
In structural section, different types of mesh have been carried out for all
the parts. Hexahedron and tetrahedron are the suitable meshes for the
nacelle and tower. The appropriate mesh, however, for the rotor is only
tetrahedron due to the complexity of the shape. Figure 7.6 shows the final
meshes which have been created for all the parts.

52

Figure 7.6. Different types of meshes for mechanical part

The number of elements and nodes for each type of mesh can be seen in
table below:
53

Table 7.2. Different meshes statics

Mesh

Nodes

Elements

Tetrahedrons

1434062

726347

Tetrahedrons + Hexahedrons

1128165

412554

The simulation has been done with the second type of mesh (hexahedron
and tetrahedron meshes).

7.3.2 Model set up

In this section, the boundaries and loads are defined for the model in order
to calculate the stresses and deflections in the tower and the rotor. The
significant feature in structural part is importing the effective forces from
the CFX into the mechanical. Therefore, ANSYS is mapping the forces on
each node in CFX into the mechanical node which depends on some factors
such as quality of the mesh, element size, etc [25]. It should be noted that
we should check the percentage of mapping and the value of forces after
importing the loads in order to be sure that all the forces are properly
mapped. Figure 7.7 illustrates the imported loads on the rotor, nacelle and
the tower from CFX into the Mechanical.

54

Figure 7.7. Imported loads on the tower, nacelle and the rotor

55

8.

Results

The simulation has been carried out with transient analysis for 80 seconds
with time step size of 0.1. Figure 8.1 represents the different snapshots of
the wind velocity at 80 second in the stationary domain. It should be
mentioned that the rotating domain has not been considered in these figures
due to high velocity changes around the rotor. As can be seen from the
figures, the speed of the wind has been changed around the tower and the
nacelle due to the rotation of the rotor.

(a)

56

(b)
Figure 8.1. Velocity of the wind in the stationary domain in different
snapshots at 80 sec, (a) in XY plane (left view), and (b) in XZ & XY plane

When the energy of the wind is extracted by a wind turbine, then the air
leaves the turbine with less speed, less energy and higher turbulence level,
which is called the wake of a wind turbine. Another wind turbine operating
in this wake will therefore produce less energy and tolerate greater
structural loading than a turbine operating in the free stream. Figure 8.2
shows the shape of the wake turbulence behind the wind turbine when the
air passes through the turbine.

57

(a)

(b)
Figure 8.2. Wake Turbulence behind the wind turbine, (a) Front view, and
(b) Isometric view

58

In order to import the loads from the CFX into the Mechanical, first we
should obtain the influence of wind forces on the nacelle, tower and the
rotor. In figure 8.3, the value of wind forces on the rotor has been caculated
in all directions. As can be seen from the figure, the maximum force on the
rotor is in direction of the wind which is increased sharply and then
gradually reach to the maximum value. On the other hand, the forces values
in other directions are almost equal to zero. Figure 8.4 shows the impact of
wind forces on the nacelle and the tower which is not constant and
changing periodically due to influence of the turbulence. These changes in
scale of turbulence increase the structural vibrations of the wind turbine,
which cause increased fatigue loads.

Force(X)

Force(Y)

Force(Z)

5.0E+05
4.0E+05

Force[N]

3.0E+05
2.0E+05
1.0E+05
0.0E+00
0

10

20

30

1.0E+05

40

50

60

Time[s]

Figure 8.3. Wind forces on the rotor

59

70

80

Force(X)

Force(Y)

Force(Z)

40

60

3.0E+03
2.0E+03

Force[N]

1.0E+03
0.0E+00
1.0E+03 0

20

80

2.0E+03
3.0E+03
4.0E+03

Time[s]

(a)
Force(X)

Force(Y)

Force(Z)

40

60

5.0E+04
4.0E+04
3.0E+04

Force[N]

2.0E+04
1.0E+04
0.0E+00
1.0E+04 0

20

2.0E+04
3.0E+04
4.0E+04
5.0E+04

Time[s]

(b)
Figure 8.4. Wind forces on the (a) nacelle and the (b) tower

60

80

The stresses and deflections in each part can be estimated after importing
the loads from the CFX into the Mechanical part. Figure 8.5 and 8.6
illustrate the stresses and deflections in the tower and the rotor,
respectively. As it can be seen in these figures, the maximum stress in the
tower is located at the lowest point of the tower.

Figure 8.5. Stresses in the tower and the rotor

(scale factor=62)
61

Figure 8.6. Deformations in the tower and the rotor

(scale factor=62)

And finally, the influence of gravity forces on all the parts in structural has
been investigated. As we can see from the figure 8.7, the stresses in the
tower and the rotor are siginifantly higher than the case which is turbulence

62

loads effect on these parts. Therefore, the gravity forces are very important
loads and should be considered in designing of the large wind turbines.

Figure 8.7. Gravity loads on tower and rotor (logarithm scale with a scale
factor of 82)

63

9.

Conclusion

The purpose of this research has been to investigate the effect of turbulence
and gravity loads on the tower and the rotor of a 5MW wind turbine in
order to calculate the stresses and deflections in these parts.
For this goal, a full 3D-model of a 5MW onshore wind turbine was
simulated by using the commercial software ANSYS. The simulation was
set with fairly realistic domains and boundaries which had considerable
influences on the outcomes.
The results represented that the turbulence after the rotor was influenced on
the wind turbine as dynamic loads which cause increased fatigue loads on
the structural parts. The fatigue loads decrease the lifetime of components
and might be brought them to failure. In addition, the gravitational load of
each part must be taken into account in designing of a wind turbine. As it
was shown in the result section, the gravitational loads were higher than
turbulence loads in the large wind turbine and both loads with together
become dominant factor for the fatigue load in each component in wind
turbines.
Wind turbines are generally grouped together in wind farms and some of
them operate partly or fully in the wake turbulence of upstream turbines.
These downstream turbines are faced to the wind with higher turbulence
and less energy which increases the fatigue loading in the components.
Therefore, the influences of turbulence loads in downstream wind turbines
are higher than upstream wind turbines. However, when the downstream
turbines are far enough from the upstream turbines, the wake wind speed
will recover to the free stream value and then the effect of turbulence loads
will be normal and not so high. The distances between wind turbines are
thus have an important factor in the value of turbulence loads on the
turbines in a wind farm.

64

10. Future Works

This research tried to investigate the effect of two important types of loads
on an enormous wind turbine. Other explorations can be executed with this
3D-model in the future:
Implementing different types of turbulence models in simulation
and comparing the results.
Calculating the fatigue loads on the wind turbine components.
Modifying the blade shape and calculating the aerodynamic loads in
the wind turbine.
Calculating the effect of turbulences and wind forces on the
components with extreme wind speed condition which is exceeded
only once within a period of 50 years.
Investigating the load effects of upstream on downstream wind
turbines in a wind farm.
Study of the turbulent wake behind a wind turbine.

65

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Martin O. L. Hansen, (2008), Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines (2nd

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4. Sathyajith Mathew, (2006), Wind Energy: Fundamentals, Resource

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10. H. K. VERSTEEG and W. MALALASEKERA, (1995), An
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14. Olimpo Anaya-Lara, Nick Jenkins, Janaka Ekanayake, Phill Cartwright,
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66

16. Thomas Ackermann , (2005), Wind Power in Power Systems, John

Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Scheu and M. Martin, (2011), Wind Turbine Structural Damping
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20. Vivek V. Ranade, (2002), Computational Flow Modeling for Chemical
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29. http://www.house-energy.com/

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School of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering

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